Jury service and public duties leave in Ireland
Reviewed by Mellow Editorial Team, HR & payroll content team
Jury service and public duties leave in Ireland is an area where many employers have questions but few clear answers. In short: employees have a legal right not to be penalised for attending jury service, but there is no statutory obligation on employers to pay them during that absence.
The legal right to attend jury service
Under the Juries Act 1976, any eligible person summoned for jury service must attend. An employer cannot lawfully prevent an employee from serving, and dismissing or penalising someone for doing so would leave the employer exposed to a claim under unfair dismissals legislation.
Critically, the Act does not require employers to top up or maintain pay during jury absence. It simply protects the employee's right to go. The courts pay jurors a daily fee directly — amounts are modest and set by the Courts Service — which is intended to cover basic expenses rather than replace a salary.
What this means in practice: the employee is legally protected, but the financial arrangement during that period is largely a matter between you and the employee, guided by whatever your contract or policy says.
Should you pay employees during jury service?
There is no statutory requirement to pay employees during jury service in Ireland. That said, most established employers do pay normal salary, at least for a reasonable duration, and recover nothing from the juror's daily court fee.
Why? Mainly because jury service is involuntary. The employee did not choose to be absent, cannot refuse without risking a fine, and may serve for anything from one day to several weeks on a complex trial. Docking pay in those circumstances tends to damage morale and trust disproportionately to whatever cost saving results.
A practical approach many employers take:
- Pay full normal salary for the first two to four weeks of jury service.
- Review longer absences (lengthy trials can run for months) on a case-by-case basis.
- Keep the process simple — ask the employee to provide their summons letter, and agree how they will stay in contact if the trial is unexpectedly brief.
Whatever you decide, put it in writing in your employment contracts or staff handbook so expectations are clear before a summons ever arrives.
Tax treatment of pay during jury service
If you continue to pay an employee their normal salary during jury service, that pay is subject to income tax, USC and PRSI in the usual way. Nothing about the jury context changes the payroll treatment.
Income tax applies at 20% up to the standard rate band (around €44,000 for a single person) and 40% above that. USC runs in bands at 0.5%, 2%, 3% and 8%. PRSI for Class A employees runs at approximately 4.1% for the employee and 11.15% for the employer.
The daily attendance fee paid by the Courts Service to the juror is a separate matter and not processed through your payroll. Your employee receives it directly and any tax implications on that fee are theirs to consider.
As with all payroll, you must submit real-time payroll information to Revenue via ROS on or before each payday — jury service does not create any special reporting obligation or exemption.
Public duties leave more broadly
Jury service is the most common form of compulsory public duties absence, but it is not the only one. Employees may also be called upon to serve as:
- Witnesses in court proceedings
- Members of local authorities or public bodies (if elected or appointed)
- Reservists in the Defence Forces
The legal framework varies across these categories. Court witness attendance, for instance, is compulsory in the same way as jury service. Defence Forces reserve training is governed by separate legislation. Elected representatives on local councils are not in the same position — that is a voluntary role, and there is no automatic entitlement to paid leave to attend council meetings unless your contract provides for it.
The consistent principle across all of these is: have a written policy. Without one, each absence becomes an ad hoc negotiation, which is time-consuming and can create inconsistency that leads to grievances.
Practical steps for employers
A short, clear policy covering jury and public duties leave will save you time and reduce friction when these situations arise. At a minimum it should cover:
- Notification: the employee should inform you as soon as they receive a summons and provide a copy.
- Pay: state clearly whether you pay full pay, reduced pay or unpaid leave, and for how long.
- Return to work: if a trial ends early, what notice should the employee give before returning?
- Long trials: set out how you will handle absences that run beyond a defined period.
Where a jury trial is expected to be unusually long, your employee can apply to the court to be excused or deferred if their absence would cause serious hardship to the business. This is assessed by the judge and is not guaranteed, but it is a legitimate route if you have genuine operational concerns.
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